PEN Ten interview

I was interviewed by Randa Jarrar for the PEN Ten interview series, which asks questions such as this:

What book would you send to the leader of a government that imprisons writers?

Breyten Breytenbach’s The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist. Breytenbach’s memoir of his seven years in various prisons during the apartheid era in South Africa is full of these tiny, soul-exploding moments, such as when, after a year and a half, he was finally handed a mirror. Can you imagine not seeing your own face for a year and a half? The loss of self would be devastating to anyone. To a politician, it would be like a death sentence.

You can read the full interview here: